Chiefs rely upon massive performs from Mahomes and Kelce towards robust Texans workforce

After their 27-19 victory over the Houston Texans in Week 16, there have been loads of observers who anticipated the Kansas Metropolis Chiefs would roll proper over the Texans within the Divisional spherical of the playoffs; there’s a notion that the workforce can simply throw a change and beat any squad in entrance of them.

However in Saturday’s 23-14 win over the Texans — a victory that sends the workforce to its seventh consecutive AFC Championship — we noticed that Houston was a harder opponent than we would have imagined.

“If you’re going to step out here on the football field, you’ve always got something to prove,” Kansas Metropolis tight finish Travis Kelce instructed ESPN’s Scott Van Pelt after the sport. “I wish it was just a flip of a switch — [that] I could just turn it on like that. But I think it was everybody in that building all week long — really, the past two or three weeks — figuring out how to get our bodies the best rest and [be] ready for the playoffs for a run like this.”

It was simply what head coach Andy Reid anticipated from a Houston workforce coached by DeMeco Ryans, who performed for Reid throughout his ultimate season with the Philadelphia Eagles.

Picture by David Eulitt/Getty Photographs

“This isn’t an easy thing,” he instructed reporters after the sport. “That’s a good football team. DeMeco’s done a phenomenal job with that team. I had him as a player, [and] now I get to see him as a coach. He’s doing great things as a coach, so [I have] a ton of respect for him and what he’s done.”

Kelce was additionally impressed with the Texans.

“They’re extremely tough individuals,” he maintained, “and when they play together like that, it can be really hard to beat them. I think that has a lot to do with their head coach and how that trickles down with his leadership and mentality.”

“[It’s a] phenomenal defense that they’ve got,” famous Reid, “so I’m proud of our guys for how they handled it. We knocked a little of the rust out. Everybody stayed positive and with each other — and that whole bit — and here we sit with a championship game.”

Nobody performed an even bigger position within the win than Kelce, who recorded seven catches for 117 yards — together with a 49-yard catch-and-run that arrange the workforce’s first landing. However the play from Saturday’s sport that we’ll be speaking about for years to come back was quarterback Patrick Mahomes’ 11-yard landing cross to the tight finish — which he in some way managed to throw as he was being tackled.

“The touchdown throw to Trav was incredible,” declared Reid. “For him to be able to get his body in position to make that throw? [It] was great.”

The pinnacle coach by no means loses sight of how a lot it means for Mahomes to be a part of his workforce.

“We’re very lucky to have him here,” mentioned Reid. “The stuff he’s doing just doesn’t happen. That’s why he’s the greatest at doing what he’s done in a relatively young career here.”

“He puts in so much work from the mental aspect throughout the week,” mentioned Kelce of his quarterback. “And then on top of that, while we’re out on the field, he makes sure he gets all the throws. I just try to match that energy for him and try to be there for him at all times — because it’s Patrick Mahomes, man! Anything could happen at any point.”

Mahomes, after all, thinks many of the credit score belongs to Kelce.

“It’s [that] big-time players make big-time plays in big-time games,” he mentioned after the sport. “That’s just how simple it is — and he’s one of those guys. He didn’t let the moment be bigger than what it is. He just goes out there and executes at a high level — just like he does in the regular season. He just does that [at] a little bit higher intensity.”

In Saturday’s sport, Kelce was certainly one of solely 4 Chiefs who caught passes. Xavier Worthy had 5 receptions — however fellow wideouts Hollywood Brown, DeAndre Hopkins and JuJu Smith-Schuster mixed for 4 targets and no catches. Mahomes famous that the Texans labored exhausting to restrict his extensive receivers — which created alternatives for Kelce — however he nonetheless desires to get extra manufacturing from all of them.

“Obviously you want to get those guys involved,” he defined. “That makes your offense even better — and obviously, there were times when we stalled out on drives. So that’ll be something that we work on [playing] another great opponent this next week — whoever that is. But they’re part of the offense. They know that — and they’re going to keep going out there and competing.”

However the quarterback additionally acknowledged that spreading the ball round is only one a part of the larger image.

“In the playoffs, as always, you never know how it’s going to go,” he reminded his listeners. “It’s about finding ways to win. We found a way to win today — but we’re going to have to get those guys involved if we want to get to our ultimate goal.”